Explore Tha Feedback

Mary J. Blige, the Queen of Hip-Hop/R&B Soul, has released her latest wares to the public in the form of The London Sessions. Featuring artistic collaborations with a bevy of hot British talent such as Sam Smith, Jimmy Napes, Disclosure, Emeli Sandé and more, it’s a departure for her musically. Does it work in real life like it might have worked on paper? Here’s 6 reasons why it didn’t in the end.

The plights of an indie artist are many, but it’s rare that you find one that comes so strikingly out of the gate with such a high quality to their presentation and a powerful voice and aura like Celeste Stoney. A singer/songwriter that has worked with many other talents, she’s stepped up to the mic with her indomitable voice and laced us with the explosive debut single “My Kinda Crazy”.

She hits at a good time, as soulful white chicks with big voices are in again — but not specifically American ones. The homegrown Stoney hits the microphone like a whirlwind with her powerful vocal, cute video and even more so catchy and well written song. “My Kinda Crazy” is that fun, unabashed song that comes along every once in a while that both musically and lyrically can fit in a bunch of different arenas. Her voice has such bite to it that you know there’s no airs being put on. She can really blow.

What do you think of “My Kinda Crazy”? With P!nk doing folk music, Jessie J cavorting with Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande, and Joss Stone nowhere to be found realistically, can Celeste fill a void in your heart and ears? Her quirky style and dedication to big songs might be what the indie market needs. She makes me miss Nikka Costa in some ways.

Her new single is available on iTunes now, or you can listen to it on Spotify below!

I was a huge fan of Mayer Hawthorne’s last album Where Does This Door Go, and I honestly thought it was a much better and more soulful work than Justin Timberlake’s album that came out in 2013 (Part 2 of The 20/20 Experience) as well.

Mayer’s cool and soul is a bit more understated and a lot less forced than some of his other blue eyed soul contemporaries. Much better music being made by him, in my opinion. “Crime” is taken off this album, and though it seemingly took forever for a video to be made (a year, even!), it’s still a good video and a nice introduction to his album if you haven’t heard of him.

I like the video because if you’ve ever been to an “exclusive” party with secret directions and directives to be followed, you get this video. As a bonus, it was directed by Rashida Jones, the actress.

Also check out one of my other favorites from this album, a remix of his song “Her Favorite Song (Oliver Remix)”:

Jazmine Sullivan has come back again, now with the latest single from upcoming album Reality Show, titled “Forever Don’t Last”.

Listen, where Jazmine lost me with “Dumb”, she reels me back in with this gem of a song!

Placing the focus solely upon her voice, Jazmine blazes this song with such reckless abandon that you can’t help but listen to it at least 3x in a row.

Literally, from the first notes, she lays claim to the fact that she’s one of our generations most unique and talented singers. Of course, with all this talent, she goes mostly unnoticed by mainstream media and radio, and it is REALLY a damn crying shame.

There’s so much that is amazing about this song. The simplicity — it’s driven mostly by an acoustic guitar. The vocals — even the backgrounds are perfect and add and do not distract. There’s moments where she pulls a George Benson and sings along with the guitar that harkens back to the days when musicians played their instruments like vocalists sing notes. The song also gives me hints of Lauryn Hill’s first album too for some reason, whether it be Jazmine’s voice or the subject matter or production, I definitely could see Ms. Hill recording something like this in her heyday.

Jazmine has a great grasp of how a song should build and draw you in. She does just enough, while staying true to her sound. Please download, buy, share and request this song at radio. She deserves it. Music deserves it.

As an eternal fan of the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, this take on Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep” is a bit of a mess. Let me list the reasons why I feel it is so:

1. Chopped & Screwed and Over Processed Vocals

Clive Davis as executive producer of this production really did Aretha a disservice by adding so much heavy processing on her vocal. I can hear the cut & paste and the slightly auto-tuned vocal throughout. Now, is this due to Aretha’s voice not holding up over the years or has Clive just decided she needed this digital treatment or what? What made Aretha “Aretha” was her tone, the SOUL, behind her performances. That’s been stripped here. It’s TOO perfect. The old story goes that Aretha was sick while recording “Respect” and you can hear the vocal imperfections throughout — not so here. She’s been nudged and slid and auto-tuned to death, and it really gives this track a flat feel.

2. Overproduced Track

Ree-Ree don’t need no production. Where Adele kept the music simple on the original “Rolling In The Deep,” Clive and crew seemingly forgo that for a schmaltzy track that is just doing too much. The simplicity is gone, and add that on top of Aretha’s T-Pain’ed vocals, and you see why I am sitting here scratching my head like “girl, whet?” The phrasing is wholly Aretha and it’s cool, but it’s lost so many times throughout this foolery of a track.

3. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” — good idea in theory, but nah.

I could see theoretically why someone thought this was a good idea, but it comes in and batters you over the head, especially ON TOP of all the points I made above. It’s just too much. And if this is a covers album, why not just do a separate cover of the song? It comes in with a bunch of clipped choir vocals and Aretha at that point has really devolved to a bunch of ad-libs that just muddy the waters even more, and it leaves the song ending on a sour note.

4. What are the lyrics, Aretha?

There is SO much potential for this to have been great. This a song that Aretha could chew up like it was nothing, and she probably does LIVE. However, with the heavy processing, and her classic Aretha “tone,” it becomes an unintelligible mess full of ad-libs, whoops, random choir vocals and more. Half of the lyrics are hard to understand. Aretha’s indomitable voice is rendered to sounding like a vat of Jello Pudding is being passed around the recording booth.

Production is key, and whoever handled this dropped the ball GREATLY. I’m a fan of Aretha, but no, this cover is not great. It could have been, but it just…isn’t.

ArethaFranklin Sings the Great Diva Classics is due out October 21st, and also features her covering an Alicia Keys song. Oh lord…

On Facebook?

Tha Feedback!

Welcome to Tha Feedback, where we give you our $.02 whether you want it or not! Featuring celebrity gossip, reviews, photos, interviews, and more, Tha Feedback gives you the content you want with the 100% unadulterated honesty you need.